Chapter 7 - THE ROSARY BEADS
Leo shrieked, a high, panicked sound, as the jagged glass tore through his skin.
He dropped his pistol, grabbing his bleeding neck, stumbling backward.
It wasn't a lethal strike—I had purposely missed the carotid artery—but the shock and the sudden geyser of blood were enough to break his focus entirely.
“Now!” I screamed, throwing myself sideways behind a rusted steel pillar.
Luca didn't hesitate.
He dove for his discarded handgun, scooped it up, and fired twice into the catwalk above.
One of the men screamed and tumbled over the railing, crashing onto a pile of wooden pallets below. Silas ducked for cover, returning blind fire that sparked against the concrete.
The warehouse erupted into absolute chaos. Gunfire echoed like thunder.
Luca sprinted toward the center of the room. He grabbed Matteo’s chair, tipped it backward, and dragged the boy behind the heavy iron base of an old printing press.
I scrambled across the floor, keeping my head down as bullets whizzed past, and slid in next to them.
“Are you hurt?” I asked Matteo, quickly assessing his pupils and breathing.
“I’m okay,” the boy sobbed, terrified but uninjured.
Luca was leaning against the iron press, breathing heavily. His face was pale, bathed in a cold sweat. The adrenaline spike was burning through his remaining glucose reserves at a terrifying rate.
“Emma,” Luca gritted out, his hands starting to tremble.
“I know,” I said, unzipping my bag with my uninjured hand.
I pulled out a pre-filled syringe of liquid glucose.
“Give me your arm.”
I jammed the needle into his thigh right through his slacks and pushed the plunger down.
“That will buy you twenty minutes before you crash completely,” I told him.
Suddenly, the gunfire from the catwalk stopped.
The silence was heavier than the noise.
“Luca!” Silas’s voice called out from the darkness above. “It’s over! We have the exits covered! Leo is bleeding out. Surrender, and we’ll let the nurse and the kid walk away!”
“He’s lying,” Matteo whispered, clutching Luca’s sleeve.
“I know, kiddo,” Luca said softly.
Luca reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a set of worn, wooden rosary beads. He pressed them into Matteo’s hand.
“Your father gave me these,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. “He asked me to protect you. I’m not going to break that promise.”
Luca looked at me. His eyes were clear, fiercely determined.
“There’s a freight elevator shaft ten feet behind us,” Luca said. “The car is stuck on the top floor, but the cables are intact. If you can get the doors open, you and Matteo can climb the service ladder to the roof and cross over to the next building.”
“I’m not leaving you here,” I said fiercely.
“Emma, listen to me,” Luca said, gripping my shoulder. “I don’t have the strength to climb. I will provide covering fire. You get him out. Please.”
It wasn't an order from a mob boss. It was a plea from a desperate uncle.
I looked at the boy. Then I looked at Luca.
I nodded.
“On three,” Luca said.
He raised his gun, stepping out from behind the iron press, and unleashed a barrage of suppressing fire toward the catwalk.
“Go!” he roared.
I grabbed Matteo’s hand, and we sprinted across the open floor. Bullets chewed the concrete at our heels.
We reached the rusted metal doors of the elevator shaft. I jammed my bleeding hands into the gap and pulled with everything I had. The doors groaned, sliding apart just enough to reveal the dark, empty shaft and the metal service ladder attached to the wall.
“Climb!” I told Matteo, pushing him toward the rungs.
He scrambled up into the darkness.
I turned back to look at Luca. He was out of ammunition. He dropped the empty magazine, reaching for a spare, but his hands were shaking too badly.
Silas appeared on the ground floor, emerging from the shadows, his rifle raised and aimed directly at Luca’s chest.
“Say hi to Marcus for me,” Silas sneered.
May you like
But before Silas could pull the trigger, a figure stepped out from the darkness behind him.
It was Vanessa.
